I had a Tangerine Stella about two years ago. Although scooters might be more environmentally friendly, running on less gas and such, the charm of riding a scooter wears off in about three weeks. At least it did for me. I prefer my minivan now, mainly because I have an itinerant business that requires fold-able ladders and such.

It would be adorable to see a town full of scoot, but I don't think it's really going to happen. People are consumers these days and they love to buy things every five minutes. Most of what they buy will not fit on the hook below the scooter seat. Also, this is a big planet and although Al Gore smoothly alarmed us all about hydrocarbons and the state of the biosphere, showing us clever maps concerning man and the mess, think again.

Mother nature is just having hot flashes right now, no need to go spent 3600.00 on a Vespa. Also, our country just invaded another smaller country and now has access to 115 billion barrels of the sweetest crude oil on the planet. That basically means we're good to go for another ten years.

So I think it would be great to see a bunch of people scooting to work with backpacks on, helmets and sunglasses to go. However, scooters are dangerous. I hit a pot hole two years ago and I put a huge dent in the front rim. One has to be very careful on a scooter. In a car one can blithely go from here to there without a care. So it's a nice thought, but one has to lay the conceptual framework down for that kind of project. And that's a big project, considering our country runs on sucking down copious amounts of gasoline.

Learn more about this author, edward p mcclenahan.
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